India lawyers group decries ‘measly’ number of top female judges
India’s Supreme Court Women Lawyers Association (SCWLA) has urged the chief justice of India to appoint more women judges to the country’s high courts.
In the letter issued on December 8 to Justice Sharad Bobde, Mahalakshmi Pavani, president of the SCWLA, underlined the need for improving diversity and inclusion across the bench in the Indian judiciary.
She drew attention to the correspondence she had received from women lawyer groups and associations, which highlighted “the measly number of women as judges in the high courts all across India”.
The letter also referred to the call made last week by the attorney general of India, Kottayan Katankot Venugopal, for increased representation of women in the judiciary following reports of insensitivity shown by male judges during sensitive legal proceedings, such as sexual abuse cases.
According to a 2018 study by the Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy, there were 72 female judges and 605 male judges across all Indian high courts, which means that women comprise just 11% of the judiciary.
In the letter, Pavani, wrote: “The Supreme Court Bar has wonderful, morally incorruptible, talented ladies, who have reached the pinnacle of success as advocates and advocates on record. [T]hey have [the] requisite experience of 20 years and have a fruitful practice. Experienced, integrity-driven and tenacious women practising in the Supreme Court of India should be considered...for appointment to all high courts.”
She highlighted the need for support and training programmes to inspire young female law students to apply to the judiciary, and to provide better access to such programmes to women from underprivileged backgrounds.
More support for women judges
The letter underlined the need for support for female lawyers in the lower judiciary, such as crèches. It continued: “For a cleaner and safer environment for all women in the lower judiciary, a district court needs to imperatively have a reasonably equipped infirmary, an ambulance, cleaner, washrooms, a crèche, digitisation of records and new computers, desktops and software equipment....”
The letter urged the chief justice to collaborate with national law universities and leading private law colleges, to provide coaching and guidance for women law students, preferably free of cost or with a minimum fee-cap.
The letter called for the introduction of a course on judicial assistance in law schools to allow senior law students to assist lower court judges for a total of 50 credit hours per year. “Such a move will also help in raising the technological efficiency of courts since [young people are] well versed with technical skills,” said the letter.
Pavani concluded that this measure would reduce the backlog of cases, reducing the work burden of judges with limited staff.
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